The Hammock Blog

The interview focused on how Hammock Inc. has revamped its approach to publishing "by no longer viewing publishing as producing products, but solving problems" for our clients, according to Rex, who confesses to being an "accidental-geek" in the interview.

We knew the cover would have to celebrate both that birthday and also the 235th Birthday of the United States of America. So we decided to bake the patriotic cake shown here which is adorned with iconic American images.

What we didn’t know was that there’d be a gift coming for American Spirit and DAR.

The magazine had begun arriving in mailboxes when we received word on June 28 that American Spirit had won its eighth Apex Award Grand Award.

The announcement also fell on the eve of DAR’s annual Continental Congress held in Washington, D.C., American Spirit editor Jamie Roberts and Hammock ceo Rex Hammock are attending the Congress, so they delivered the good news and also joined in the dual birthday celebrations.

One of the best-known and most celebrated women’s organizations in America, DAR has published a magazine continuously since 1892. American Spirit is the latest incarnation, honoring DAR’s core values of God, home and country.

Each issue of American Spirit explores topics that support DAR’s dedication to historical preservation, promotion of education and encouragement of patriotic endeavor.

Sponsored by the editors of Writing That Works: The Business Communications Report, the 23rd APEX Awards competition received 3,329 entries, including 529 in magazines and journals. Only 100 Grand Awards were issued.

American Spirit was entered in the non-profit category, and the judges showered it with praise:

“This is a spectacular magazine on so many levels. The use of typography is almost an art form in itself, photography is world class, and the feature articles are captivating."

We feel much the same way, and, judging from rising circulation figures, so do our readers. And that takes the cake.

Rex Hammock started a custom publishing company in 1991. His focus as a blogger is content as it’s deployed across the full spectrum of publishing media—a concept that many printers and publishers, tied mostly to one medium, are still struggling to understand. Hammock is a prolific poster who has taken maximum advantage of the self-promotional tools now available to bloggers. His links (“Rex Connections”) are worth a visit to the site by themselves.

New ABM CEO Clark Pettit

For the past several months, I've served on the search committee to find a new president and CEO of the business-to-business media association, American Business Media. Today that committee disbanded as the Board of Directors of ABM made official the hiring of Clark Pettit as President and CEO, succeeding Gordon T. Hughes II. (I've included the press release at the bottom of this post.)

Click to view a larger version of this panoramic photo by Kelsey Wynns for a sense of what Nashville's Riverfront looked like on Monday, May 3, 2010.

For those who have asked how you can contribute to the flood recovery efforts, let me make two suggestions. While there are many groups that are worthy of your support (a great list of them can be found on this post at Nashvillest.com), there are two groups that many of us at Hammock have worked with personally in the past -- and even during the past 24 hours.

Either group will put your contribution to work immediately:

The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee: In partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management, the Community Foundation is coordinating contributions to the Metro Nashville Disaster Response Fund and Tennessee Emergency Relief Fund.

This just in: All proceeds from the sale of this T-shirt go to the Community Foundation.

Hands on Nashville: On behalf of the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management, Hands on Nashville is coordinating the volunteer efforts.

Over the weekend, Nashville experienced massive flooding due to unprecedented torrential rain. Our office building's management is working to address issues related to some flooding in the elevator shafts, so the building is closed for the day. All Hammock employees have the ability to work remotely and you should be able to reach them using their regular direct numbers or through our main number 615-690-3400. All employees are safe, but many have neighbors in need, so we'll also be reaching out to those friends and neighbors today, as well. Thank you to the many kind expressions of concern over the weekend. And for those who would like to help, please contribute to this fund set up by the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.

Like Mark Twain, reports of the death of print continue to be exaggerated, though, like the Black Knight in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," print has suffered considerably more than a flesh wound.

But the recently launched "Magazines, The Power of Print" campaign underwritten by leaders of five major magazine companies—Charles H. Townsend, Condé Nast; Cathie Black, Hearst Magazines; Jack Griffin, Meredith Corporation; Ann Moore, Time Inc.; and Jann Wenner, Wenner Media—is betting $90 million worth of ad space on assuring advertisers (and readers) that magazines remain a vital — a necessary — medium.

To those who scoff, we can point to Dr. Samir Husni, aka "Mr. Magazine," who recently reported there were 170 magazine launches in 1Q 2010 — the same number as 1Q 2009 and more than in either 2007 or 2008.

"Call it what you want," writes Dr. Husni, "but yet again the innovative media companies and entrepreneurs have shown a resiliency against all odds, and for that matter against the prophets of doom and gloom.

New focus, new name.

But as I've noted on this blog recently, the scope of our work, and that of our fellow custom publishers, has broadened to include a wide variety of media beyond magazines -- video, audio, all forms of online, digital, interactive and social media.

At Hammock we support partners who, like us, have a heart for the environment. Today we congratulate printing partner Quad/Graphics on receiving LEED certification for their manufacturing facility and headquarters in Sussex, Wis. Quad prints MyBusiness magazine for our client the National Federation of Independent Business.

This environmental accomplishment is part of an ongoing effort by Quad to transform all of its manufacturing sites to green buildings. The U.S. Green Building Council created the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System to set standards for environmentally sustainable construction.

We applaud Quad’s commitment to the environment and wish them luck on their green mission as they continue to work to make their nine other facilities LEED-certified too.

We had a great day meeting association executives and learning more about the latest trends in association publishing. The day of sessions was jam-packed with everything from developing digital communications strategies to the most popular new technologies associations should leverage. We're already looking forward to the next SNAP conference in June 2009 in Washington, D.C.

The special e-magazine focuses on the 2008 National Small Business Summit, held in Washington, D.C., in June and organized by NFIB and eBay. The biannual Summit is an event that brings together America’s most politically active entrepreneurs and key congressional, administrative and business leaders.

We were delighted to see ourselves mentioned recently in a column in the Tennessean about companies using blogs well. David Bohan, CEO of Bohan Ideas, shares several tips for blogging well, corporately speaking.

Thanks for the kind words!

Hammock's "association community builder" approach to sharing the event can be viewed at the NFIB Summit website. We used numerous online social and conversational tools, including Flickr, YouTube and Twitter.

Don't miss this opportunity to network with other technology enthusiasts and learn about how you can implement new media within your organization. Mark your calendar and meet us a Podcamp!

The ever-insightful eastwikkers are 25-days into a roundup of the 33 best practices in wiki-based collaboration. Look through the entire list if you want to get a sense of some of the amazing things being done with wiki tools and approaches that aren't the best-known example. Around here, we're especially proud of yesterday's #24 review on the count-down, Smallbusiness.com:

"Great name, great look (dead simple), and a great number of resources (volume is sometimes important). There are a number of commercial sites that target the huge and amorphous small-business market, but this is the only site doing this in a truly collaborative fashion. The value to this approach? As a partner at an independent PR agency, I can tell you: there's no substitute for knowledge that comes from people who have actually "been there, done that." This site taps the collective wisdom of an expert group and serves up useful, practical information in areas such as law, management, finance, marketing, HR, state-by-state resources, and much more."

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A 4" grass frog is visiting the Hammock office today. He will star on a television show next week. Jamie Roberts is his press agent.

Weﾕre thrilled to announce the arrival of the latest member of the Hammock family. Jacob Creekmore arrived home in Nashville this week from Guatemala. Weﾕve been eagerly awaiting his arrival for months so we could hardly believe our eyes when he visited the office yesterday. Lots of people wanted turns holding himﾑwe werenﾕt sure his mom, Laura, was going to get him back. Heﾕs just so dang cute!

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The question went round recently, What are you giving up for Lent? Turned out a lot of Hammockfolk do make sacrifices for the 40 day period (not including Sundays, which may be why it seems longer) that comprise Lent. Here's their list:

Bill: I was responsible for posting this, and as you can see by the date of this post, I haven't decided to give up procrastination. Lent wasn't a major part of my family tradition, so I've never given anything up. I've sometimes tried to add things, though - figuring if Lent is a time to get right spiritually, maybe I should do something that I wasn't doing, like regularly going to church or eating dark-green leafy vegetables. Kind of like a New Year's Resolution do-over. Rarely successful, too. My wife has decided to give up TV - she did this on another Lent and made it about 6 months longer before the tube got her again. I wonder if the fact she bought a TiVo right before Lent takes away some of the spiritual purity of her decision?

Jamie: I'm giving up chocolate, as well as a little bit of sleep. I've promised to get up a half-hour earlier in the morning. I failed miserably at last year's pledge to get up an hour earlier, so this year I made the crucial adjustment. The toughest fast I've ever had was the year I gave up bread. I never would have made it on Atkins.

Barbara Mathieson: Sometimes I give things up; sometimes, not. Last year I tried to give us cursing, but didn't leave the house before the first word flew out of my mouth. My big push this year is to stay calm and not freak out about stuff. I'll try to keep that in mind for Lent. I stayed pretty tense and high strung throughout most of February.

Megan: I was raised Catholic, so every year my mom would make me give up stuff for Lent. I always tried to give up homework, but since she wouldn't let me get away with that I ended up going without video games or television-the things a kid really needs. But now that I'm not Catholic anymore, I guess you could say I've given up Lent for Lent?

Laura: I'm giving up butter. Trust me, it's going to be really, really hard. Nothing makes a dish taste better than real butter. I will probably use this time to also explore my Chinese cookbook, which does not seem to focus on butter in quite the same way that Southern cooking does.

Lynne: I announced to Dave this morning that I'm giving up Cokes/Dr. Peppers for Lent, so I guess I'll go ahead and commit to this.

Lisa: I would like to give up cokes...more specifically cokes with artificial sweetners.

Emily: I don't think I'll ever be able to give up coffee, but I am trying to give up putting sugar and cream in my coffee.

Rex: I am going to give up putting sugar and cream in Emily's coffee also.

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From Rex:

On Tuesday, I spent an hour chatting with host Anita Campbell on her radio show, Small Business Trends. The show is now posted online.

Here's what we talked about:

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Looks like we are finally getting our first panic-in-the-grocery-stores storm this evening. The weather wonks are comparing conditions to a storm almost exactly three years ago, which started with rain after morning rushhour, then quickly became a disaster when the temps plummeted in a couple of hours and left everything coated thickly with ice. Then it started snowing. When people finally got home, they had to stay for several days, and find ways to amuse themselves.

So we decided to see how Hammockfolk like to spend a snowy weekend, and here's what they said:

Megan Goodchild: When I was growing up (in Chicago - where we rarely stayed home because of "snow days"), us kids would make snow tunnels at recess and then race through them. But now that I'm a grown up (and a big baby about driving in bad weather,) I like to stay home and let my cats outside to play in the snow. If the snowflakes are big enough they try to eat them before they hit their fur.

Emily McMackin: I'm a little bit of a wimp when it comes to cold weather, so I prefer to curl up in my electric blanket, drink hot chocolate and watch my favorite chick flick!

Barbara Mathieson: Leave work when that first snowflake makes an appearance. Make a pot of hot tea and read. Walk in the snow with Neyland. Build a snowman and make snow angels. When I was a child, my mother would make snow ice cream for us. I think she added milk, sugar and vanilla to lots of snow. How it stayed frozen I don't know, but it was very good. I still remember the taste.

Barbara Greenfield: Sledding! I will definitely send you pics tomorrow if I can go! The weather is also a perfect excuse to stay in for a movie marathon.

Laura Creekmore: Far and away my favorite thing to do on a snowy day is go sledding. I grew up in a little town in Tennessee where everything shut down for an inch of snow, and some of my favorite childhood memories are when my dad came home from work early and we all sledded down the hill on our street, down the driveway and into the woods in our yard until it was so dark we finally had to go in. Of course you didn't feel the cold.

My second-favorite thing to do (believe it or not) is go to the grocery store. I always loved to be at my dad's store the day before a big snow was predicted. Busy days are the most fun times to work at a grocery store...how fast can you get folks out the door? Everyone is excited about the snow (at least in the South, where it comes so rarely) and so it's fun to be around a lot of folks who are all focused on "surviving" through their day or two of being snowed in.

Bill Hudgins: I've always loved going out side to listen to it snow, especially at night. The soft hiss of flakes is a sound like no other. We have a big pasture back of our house with a creek running past it into Old Hickory Lake, so it's fun to tramp down to watch the ducks and geese ignore the weather entirely. Making comfort food - pancakes, waffles, soup, chili - and watching TV or movies complete the day. We used to build snowmen, but now I'd rather read old Calvin and Hobbes strips about snowmen - they had the right idea.

Susie Garland: My daughter, Emma, and I have a tradition of going on night walks after a good snow.

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Customers of Longview, Texas-based Aerosmith Aviation are often surprised to find out the company they hired to outfit their private planes has fewer than 50 employees. Making your small business look and function more like a big corporation is the cover story of the Feb./March issue of MyBusiness magazine, the member magazine we publish for the National Federation of Independent Business. The five small-business owners featured in this story tell us how thinking big helped them grow rich.

Another way to grow rich is to give less of your money to Uncle Sam. With April 15 just around the corner, small-business taxes are the focus of this issue's MyBusiness Manual. Find out what your CPA wishes you knew, learn how to make the tough call between classifying workers as employees or independent contractors and find out whether you can actually write-off the MBA you've always wanted to get.

As Valentine's Day approaches, love is in the air--is it in your office? Find out what employers need to know about the legal hazards of workplace dating.

Almost fifty years ago when Harvey Robbins and his wife were dating, they used to frequent The Palace, a soda shop in Tuscumbia, Ala. But like so many other small towns across the country, Tuscumbia was dying. In this issue, learn how one small-business owner single-handedly saved his hometown, including the spot where he and his wife courted.

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In September, Hammock Publishing made a pledge to help the folks at Louisiana Cookin', a New Orleans-based magazine heavily impacted by Hurricane Katrina. One of our efforts to help culminated in a CD of all the magazine's mouth-watering recipes from 2005. New subscribers receive the CD as a bonus with their first issue.

And what a bonus. Louisiana Cookin's crawfish jambalaya, creole pralines and zydeco grit cakes will make you say goodbye New Year's resolutions and hello Mardi Gras!

To subscribe to Louisiana Cookin', visit www.louisianacookin.com

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It comes quickly. Here we are just 24 days into the new year and already were supposed to be depressedreally depressed. According to a British psychologist, Jan. 24 is the most depressing day of the year. Here in Nashville, we love to sing songs about feeling blue, but some of us around the office dont agree with the British shrink. Were a pretty happy bunch, despite the gray days, freezing nights, and pasty faces. Here are some reasons why Jan. 24 makes us clap our cold hands together:

I love taking walks in the evenings when it's not to cold but you can still smell the lingering odor of wood burning fireplaces. It reminds me of childhood.
-Patrick R.

This is a great time of the year for doing things like cleaning our barn, cutting dead limbs and clearing fencerows. Mainly because creepie-crawlies are at a minimum, and it's cold, so you don't get weary from the heat. It's also great sleeping weather. I do get depressed when it's wet and miserable and cabin fever sets in.
-Bill

Because Jan. 27 is my half birthday!!!! It's a joke, people. I'm not THAT obsessed with my birthday. (Note: the box decorated with balloons next to my desk is for presents).
-Lena

I love wearing sweaters, and since they are dry-clean only, I can wear them a couple of times (at least three) without doing lots of laundry!
-Emily

I am NOT a winter fan. It's cold and rainy, and there aren't any fresh tomatoes to be had for months. The only good thing about Jan. 24? Just 23 days til pitchers and catchers report.
-Laura

Summer weighs in from Austin, Texas, where it's 70 degrees today. We have no sympathy:
I love this time of year because the warmth of the sun and the cool bite of a soft breeze make for a perfect afternoon walk with the dogs. January also brings chocolate Italian cream cake to our house. We have several family birthdays in January (a couple on Cole's side, a couple on mine), so we all get together for a day in Gruene, Texas, for some live music, good food and great conversation. And the leftover cake always makes it back to our house!!!

Today is special because ten years ago, we adopted Neyland, our dog. Despite his muddy paws, he is a great way to cure mid-winter depression!
-Barbara

I hate this time of year. Or maybe I'm just down because the bill for my New Year's trip just came due. But to be a good sport, I love this time of year because it's movie award season and you know how much I love going to the movies.
-Jamie

I love cold weather in general. But there needs to be sunshine. I don't care how cold it is, as long as it's sunny.
-Allison

I love this time of year for its silencethe calm after the storm called Christmastime. And I can start counting down the days to my birthday (only 115 days left!!)
-Megan

I love wearing turtlenecks and eating chili. It just doesn't taste as good in August.
-Shannon

I like the way the silhouettes of leafless trees looks against a winter sunset.
-Susie

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The ancient Babylonians reportedly were the first to start making New Year's resolutions some 4,000 years ago, with the most popular being to return borrowed farm equipment. Though people all over the world have been breaking their resolutions ever since, some of the Hammock crew decided to give it the ole college try.

Bill: I resolve to take my first rides in a helicopter and on a Jet Ski, and to enter a dance competition. UPDATE: I entered my first (and maybe last) dance competition Jan. 21. Won a few rounds, too, and got some ribbons. Kinda like taking first place in the county fair pickle contest.

Barbara The Production Director: Mine is to use clipless pedals on my bicycle and not to fall with them. So far, I've done three rides without falling. Plus I'm cutting back on sweets.

Shannon: To call my grandmothers more often.

Natalie: To stop cursing.

Laura: I normally eschew New Year's resolutions but last year I tried a couple and they worked out great. So this year I'm going to resolve to choose colors and get my house painted. And hey, while I'm at it, I'll resolve to keep my house as organized as it is right now, after being at home for a week.

Megan: To get rock-hard tasty abs. (OK, so I got that idea from a Tenacious D song.) Oh, and to finally fix my old clamshell iBook.

Rex: To get rock-hard tasty abs. No, wait. Megan said mine already.

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In honor of Benjamin Franklins 300th birthday, American Spirit editor Jamie Roberts baked a cake for us at Hammock to enjoy. We were so eager to celebrate, in fact, that several of us couldnt wait for this photo to be taken before digging in. Which we guess is in keeping with his aphorism, Eat to live, and not live to eat.

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January 17 would have been Benjamin Franklins 300th birthday, and to celebrate his unforgettable life and enduring legacy, his adopted hometown is throwing him a party of the century (or three). From cake-baking contests featuring Franklins favorite ingredients to Franklin-themed activities and attractions, Philadelphians are going all out for their most famous citizen.

Learn more about the birthday bash in the January/February issue of American Spirit. Read about upcoming cultural tributes to Franklin as well as the international traveling exhibition Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World, which runs through April 30 at Philadelphias National Constitution Center and will make stops in St. Louis, Houston, Denver, Atlanta and Paris.

Interested in delving deeper into Franklins life? Check out American Spirits Bookshelf. The magazine reviews a modern version of Franklins autobiography as well as a new account of Franklins years as an American representative in Paris during the Revolution. Discover why the legacy of this American original looms larger than ever.

Want to celebrate, but cant make it to Philadelphia? Find out about birthday parties planned for Franklin in towns and cities near you by visiting www.benfranklin300.org, the Web site of the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary. The site offers a complete calendar of events for the Philadelphia festivities, including dates and times of the traveling exhibition.

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Meet Megan Goodchild, one of Hammock Publishings newest employees.
Megan was born in Evanston, Ill., and grew up in Des Plaines, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, where, she says, We often thought the planes were going to land on our house instead of at OHare!. She moved to Murfreesboro, Tenn., about 20 miles south of Nashville after graduating high school in 1997; her family still lives in the Chicagoland area.
Megan received a B.S. in journalism and Spanish from MTSU in 2003, with an English minor. I currently am working on my masters in mass communications at MTSU, which should be complete by 2008, if it doesnt kill me first, she notes. She worked her way through undergrad as a Lead Certified Pharmacy Technician at CVS in The Boro. After graduating, she took a job as a Spanish interpreter for the Rutherford County Health Department and also as a pharmacy tech with Middle Tennessee Medical Center (both in Mboro). In May 2004, she was hired as the Marketing Coordinator for MTMC, where she wrote various articles, news releases, and dabbled in graphic design.
Megan lives in Murfreesboro with her boyfriend, Ian (in our first house!), and their three cats (BK, Finnegan and Evil Twin).

Tell us about your hometown and your family.

Evanston is so vibrant  I think its to Chicago what West End is to Nashville (Except, I guess, that its its own city). But when I was born the school system was not so great, so my parents moved us to Des Plaines, which is about 10 minutes from Chicago. As ghetto as it is, technically its a suburb so our schools had books, teachers and heat.

I love my mom and sisters to death  were all pretty close. I was 12 when my youngest sister, Emily, was born. My mom went to work at night, so after school I came home to care for Emily and Katie, who is four years my junior. I continued to do this through high school.

Several things, including the fact that I was going to be surrounded by Mac-users. (For quality of life reasons, I wont take a job where I cannot work on a Mac.)

When I learned that the position combined writing with the Web, I was instantly intrigued. I am addicted to technology, and am starting to believe that some day the Internet is going to either save or destroy the world.

There were a few omens, too, that led me to believe Hammock was where I was supposed to be. For instance, about a week before I interviewed for the job, I was sitting in my office at the hospital and had an epiphany that to maximize communication among my colleagues, we could use IM. I ran down the hall in excitement to the other offices, but they just looked at me like I was nuts and said it would never work. Ha!

I am a writer for NFIB.com, but from what I hear Ill probably be tapped to write a little for other clients, too. Since Ive only been here a few weeks, Im still figuring out my day-to-day job. But its great to be in such a creative atmosphere.

Lots of cussing  just kidding! I load up my iPod with good music and give myself about an hour and a half to get here. Usually I make it with plenty of time to spare, except for Wednesday, when it took me over two hours because of a wreck.

I love playing video games, and Ian (my boyfriend) and I play NTN trivia with friends every Tuesday night at a bar in Murfreesboro. Also, I try really hard to be a good photographer, but in the winter I usually just end up doing photo shoots of my cat. Ian would say my worst hobby is collecting Macs (I have four at home), but I dont see anything wrong with that!

The Cubs, of course.

Kurt Vonnegut always cracks me up, but Denis McQuail (a mass communications theorist) really helped me through this past semester of grad school.

My favorite band of all time is Barenaked Ladies. They have mastered the art of self-deprecation, and I would totally be a groupie if I had the time and money.

Usually indie or alternative, though I guess there is no true alternative genre anymore. I also like to listen to some Spanish-language alt/rock bands.

I subscribe to Mother Jones, Newsweek, Macworld and Layers Magazine. Whether I have time to read them all is another story.

Kill your television! The revolution wont be televised! (But I do love CSI: Las Vegas.)

Lately anything with spinach and feta cheese finds its way onto my plate. I love Boscos, but I really need to start exploring more of Nashvilles cuisine. Anyone want to join me?

I cant live without peppermint. Seriously, I think its part of my DNA now.

I would say on the weekends Im more of a nightbird than during the week, but I really could go to bed at 9 p.m. and sleep past noon every day.

1. My cousin Sarah, whos the same age as I am and is one of my best friends. A few years ago she battled a rare head/neck cancer, and is one of the most grounded and earthy people I know.

2. Steve Jobs, though I guess its more intrigue than admiration. Hes a great combination of genius and insanity. (And I cant live without Apple products.)

3. People who grow up speaking only one language but are able to achieve fluency in several more.

How to build a fully functional Web site from scratch. Or Ninja powers.

Billy Joels Only the Good Die Young

Chicagos Hard to Say Im Sorry

And, even though its so uncool, I love Alanis Morissette. Her non-commercial songs really are poetic.

Lost, although I didnt get to watch any of last season because I had class at night.

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Meet Barbara Greenfield, one of Hammock Publishing's newest employees.
Barbara was born and raised in Memphis except during her 2nd-5th grade years when her family moved to a suburb of Chicago. She loved he Windy City so much she decided to attend Northwestern for college where she majored in Art History. After college she moved to New York and worked for Sotheby's for a year in their Fine Arts Department. She then relocated to London for eight months to work in Sotheby's new office catering to works under $100,000 threshold.

Barbara returned to the States to attend business school at Vanderbilt in the Spring 2002. She entered the publishing world the summer after her first year of grad school in Little Rock, Ark., working for the Oxford American, and continued to consult for the magazine over the next year. Upon graduation she took a job at a Franklin, TN, health care company. "But," she says, "I soon realized that I missed publishing, which is why I am so happy to be at Hammock!"

Tell us about your hometown and your family.

I am a Memphis girl. My mom still lives there with my stepfather Keith and her beloved pug Gracie. I was born in Memphis one week before Elvis died. My mom claims it was one of the hottest summers in Memphis history.

My mom is a part-time flight attendant for Northwest Airlink. My brother Peter lives in Nashville and works for Colliers. My sister Elizabeth recently moved to Birmingham and is getting married on May 13th at Camp McDowell in Alabama. Elizabeth is in Nashville a few days each month because she is in graduate school at Vanderbilt to become a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner and will graduate in August.

Two publishing folks I respect raved about Hammock and then once I did some work for you over the summer I was blown away. I quickly realized how much I missed publishing and that I was confident Hammock was the right fit for me.

My role is to market NFIB and My Business to ad agencies, marketers and other audiences who are trying to reach to small business owners. I will also help coordinate efforts to up-sell current advertisers and establish new corporate sponsorships while also supporting the Elliot ad sales team.

I absolutely love Nashville, but I would love it if there were more places within walking distance of work/home. One of my favorite things about living in a big city was the ability to walk everywhere. I hate feeling so trapped by the requirement to get in my car to get anywhere.

Cooking and baking. I often make more than I eat so I will definitely bring in treats. I bought my first road bike last fall and my goal is to finish one Olympic distance triathlon this year.

ummm. well, I saw LeBron James on Oprah last week so I am now crazy about him.

David Sedaris makes me laugh so hard so I love him for that. I look forward to seeing him in Nashville in April.

Dolly Parton. I saw her at the Station Inn a few months ago and now have a HUGE crush on her.

Hip hop

Real Simple, Gourmet and the New Yorker

I am a Netflix fanatic so I do not tend to watch much TV although I do catch up via Netflix. My recent favorites include Six Feet Under, Family Guy, Entourage and Lost. When I was younger I wanted to grow up to be Gene Siskel or Roget Ebert so narrowing down a movie list is a challenge but here are some new and old good ones: Walk the Line, Capote, Brokeback Mountain, LOTR, Home for the Holidays, The Godfather, Gone with the Wind, Million Dollar Baby, Almost Famous, The Big Chill, ET, Hoosiers, Out of Africa, The Right Stuff and You Can Count on Me.

Margot, Parco Cafe at the Farmer's Market, Pizza Perfect on 21st, Browns Diner and Copper Kettle

Dark chocolate

Morning

My mom, sister and brother because they always forgive me.

I took Latin in high school and college so I wish I spoke a modern language I could actually use.

"I think we're alone now" by Tiffany; "Love is a battlefield" Pat Benatar; "Let's hear it for the boy" Deniece Williams; "Heaven is a place on earth" Belinda Carlisle

Lost, although I have only see the first season, anxiously awaiting the second second season on dvd.

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On Dec. 26, 2004, a fire in the sanctuary of my church, First Presbyterian of Gallatin, came within minutes of destroying the venerable structure.

It seemed then, and seems now, that grace kept if from ruin. At the time, some believed we'd patch it up and be back in within 90 to 120 days, despite the loss of our organ, and significant damage to much of the building. Fortunately, the congregation decided to look ahead and not just repair the damage but renovate the sanctuary to last another century plus.

On Dec. 24, we held our first services back in the sanctuary. The pews were in, although most lacked cushions. Carpet has yet to be installed on the aisles, the sound system isn't working, the single stained glass window that was destroyed is several months away from completion, and a new organ takes at least 2 years to build. But the santurary is usable, with a new coffered ceiling, a lovely shade of yellow on the walls , far better acoustics and a spirit of community that can be lost in a church unchallenged. In the meantime, we have bought a building nearby on the square and use it for youth programs and a Saturday night service that is proving popular.

It was a great present for all of us, after a year of holding services next door at the United Methodist Church's fellowship hall, but as our pastor says, the church is the people, not the building. This past year has proved it.

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As we have done for the past 14 years, our offices are closed during the week between Christmas and New Years Day. We will reopen on Tuesday, January 3. We are all checking our email and office voice mail while the offices are closed, however. You can reach anyone via telephone by calling their direct office number and leaving a voice mail. (To get a direct office number, call 615-690-3400 and choose the "directory" option. You can also find a "department" number as well, if you don't know the person you'd like to talk with.) And several people have a feature that alerts them whenever someone leaves voice mail. Happy holidays!

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Hammock Publishing production director Barbara Mathieson volunteers at the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere during her time away from work. She is pictured on the zoo website at http://nashvillezoo.org/docents.htm. Barbara is in the new Lorikeet Landing and is showing visitors how to attract the colorful birds with cups of nectar.

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December is another busy month for Hammock Days. What's a Hammock Day you might ask... Well, it's the anniversary that each of us joined the Hammock team. Dec. 4 was that day for me, and since I tie everyone to a chair and withhold food and water until they answer these questions for me, I decided I'd better do the same.

1. December 4 is Hammock Day for you. How long have you been with Hammock Publishing? Five years.

2. What do you remember most about your first day at Hammock? I started the same day as Maggie Flynn, who is now in California dating a surfer and writing a book. And I remember everyone being so... casual isn't the right word, but comfortable might be. The atmosphere was instantly creative, warm, welcoming and comfortable.

3. If you didn't work at Hammock Publishing, what do you think you would be doing? I'd either be a Vegas showgirl or a Secret Service sniper, dressed in black and hanging out on rooftops, undetected, waiting for the bad guys to walk into my sights.
4. What was your favorite cartoon growing up? I've always had a soft spot for Michigan J. Frog.

5. What was the last book you read? Last magazine you read cover to cover? Oh gosh, my mom would be ashamed, but it's been a while since I've read a whole book, just pieces and parts of several. But maybe "Beautiful Stranger." It's autobiographical about a girl, her looks, her obsession with changing them and why. Last magazine. Shop, etc. Highly educational stuff!

6. What was your most memorable day at Hammock? Oh goodness, there have been so many over five years. The first one that keeps coming to mind is the first time Rex ever personally called me, at home. If I remember the story correctly, there was a fire at a printing facility that we used at the time, and Barbara Mathieson just happened to be visiting during the accident. The fire was making national news, and Rex was just letting everyone know that Barbara was okay. To this day, when I pick up the phone and hear "Summer, this is Rex," I get just a little nervous that something's burning.

7. What's your favorite reality TV show? Would you ever participate? Cole and I are big "Survivor" fans, but the whole eating-bugs part would keep from ever even trying out.

8. Where did you go to college? Cole claims that I went to every college in Texas, but that's not true. My degree came from the school formerly known as Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, just about 30 minutes south of Austin.

9. Where did you grow up? I was born in a town called Brownwood, just about 30 miles from the "geographic center" of Texas. I went to school in Early, Texas, a town of about 1,900 at the time.

10. If you could switch places with any other Hammock employee for one day, who would it be and why? Shannon McRae. (She edits MyBusiness Magazine.) Everything I do is web-related, and I think it would be interesting to be knee-deep in the paper and ink that it takes to produce a magazine.

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Were always proud of the work we produce along with our clients. But its nice to be recognized for those effortsespecially when the group doing the recognizing is comprised of industry peers.

The Custom Publishing Councils Pearl Awards were announced last week and MyBusiness magazine (the member publication we produce for the 550,000 small-business members of NFIB) won the top award in the Editorial Excellence category for magazines with circulations of more than 125,000.

Woo hoo!!!!...ok, back to work.

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For the first time ever, the Country Music Awards left Music City for the Big Apple. Cowboy hats, blue jeans and Southern accents were in full effect at Tuesday night's awards ceremony at Madison Square Garden. And while you could probably argue that it was a good thing for country music that the CMAs were in NYC (more exposure and all) some of us back in Nashville couldn't help but feel a little bitter at all the ooohh-ing and aaaahh-ing over the New York affair.

If you haven't been here you might not realize it, but the Music City is a great city. Often referred to as the Athens of the South, Nashville is hardly a hick town. Below are a few reasons some of us would choose Nashville over New York any day.

We dont have the Yankees!!!
-Patrick B.

Two words come to mind...Pancake Pantry
Oh, and better traffic on Nashvilles Broadway.
Oh, and friendlier people.
And less crime.
And less expensive housing. Okay, I'll stop...
-Summer

Let me take a contrarian point-of-view, here. The cabs are cheaper in New York than in Nashville and our public transportation is, well, challenged. But in the transportation department, Nashville's abundant Southwest service makes it a snap for getting to and from most places quickly (and cheaply). Also, the Ryman Auditorium is a world-class venue for live music. (Oh, sure. New York's not shabby in that category.) Speaking of live music, the Station Inn.
-Rex

One can afford to live alone because of slightly affordable rent.
-Carrie W.

Southeastern conference football is available in Nashville, although the "home" team Vanderbilt isn't a powerhouse. and Radnor Lake, where my husband and I go hiking and herping (looking for snakes) on Sunday mornings.
-Barbara The Production Director

I can get most anywhere in 15 minutes or less. I can buy more than I can carry when I go to the grocery store. And people dont look at you funny when you say yall.
-Shannon

We have trees and grass within minutes of our homes and they are not full of muggers (just chiggers and ticks).
Jersey is a cow here, not a landmass barely visible through the smog.
A 30-mile commute doesn't take two hours, and there are no tolls.
$300,000 buys a huge house and land, instead of just a third-floor condo.
We can wear shorts in November.
Our women are prettier. And some can even cook (and will).
-Bill

I can afford to have a car. Loveless Cafe. Great music, cheap cover charges.
-Jamie

More green spaces, parks, trees.
Closer to my family.
-Allison

If fellow drivers see that you're stuck in traffic, most will actually let you in their lanes.
-Emily

1. Doesn't reek of roasted chestnuts
2. Many fewer Yankee fans and other people who wear multi-colored, belted leather Giants jackets (and modeled their personal style after Don Mattingly)
3. Nobody here feels the need to announce, hourly, that they live in he world's greatest city (It's just understood)
4. Dogs here come in sizes larger than the Norwegian Brown rat
5. Camoflauge is not worn here as an ironic downtown pose (Fort Campbell soldiers, plus hunters, gain value from it)
6. Investment banker guys here don't get manicures (or at least don't brag about it)
7. A public display of orange flags isn't referred to an art installation. It just means it's "Football Time in Tennessee."
8. We can visit. You have to live there and spend your free time figuring out when you have to move to Connecticut or New Jersey.
9. Car service? How about the luxury of driving a big-ass car yourself.
10. We don't have to wait years before seeing someone we know at the grocery store.
-John

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BtoB Magazine has just published its "Who's Who in Business Publishing: Our inaugural list of 100 major players in business media." We are proud to say that Hammock Publishing's founder and president, Rex Hammock, is one of those players. We're even prouder that he's considered "edgy." It would probably come as a surprise to him, though, to know that he's also something of an edger.

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From Hammock editor Bill Hudgins:

Serendipity: finding something unexpected and useful while searching for something else. One of my favorite words, it sounds like it belongs in an Ogden Nash poem. Im especially fond of it now, as a chance story assignment for a client has given me a new lease on life.

Back in summer 2005, I wrote a newsletter article for one of our clients, StoneCrest Medical Center, about a new procedure that uses a CT scanner to measure the amount of calcium in your hearts arteries  basically, how much, if any, hardening of the arteries you have. This in turn can indicate how likely you are to have potentially nasty clogs in your pipes.

Cool, I thought. Im over 50, have regular checkups, and I try to exercise and eat right, but my family has some heart disease history. Cant hurt to get one. I live near another TriStar Hospital that offers the test and took it there. Took 10 minutes  less time than registering  and I didnt have to skip breakfast or even put on a hospital gown.

The results were not what I expected. Instead of clean plumbing, the test ranked me in the low end of moderate hardening in a couple of spots. My doctor recommended a cardiac stress test to find out precisely what was happening in there.

Aside from having to postpone breakfast and that all-important first cup of java for several hours, the test was not bad. All my Stairmastering made the 12 minutes on a treadmill pretty easy. The cardiologist was encouraging but said the many photos they took of my ticker before and after would tell the tale. Just in case it came out bad, afterwards I indulged in a fair number of foods that might soon be off-limits.

This story has a happy ending. The stress test was negative, which is positive news. I still have to do what I can to keep the hardening at bay. But I can quit worrying about this and go back to a more immediate threat to my health  my daily commute on I-65.

I can only hope that the article that I wrote for our client's newsletter will help someone else.

From Hammock editors Jamie Roberts and Shannon McRae:

In our opinion, New York is the center of the world. During a three-day trip to the Big Apple, we stayed within a city block of some of the week's biggest news stories: Charles and Camilla attended a MOMA event, the Top of the Rock observation deck opened to the public for the first time in almost 20 years, and the Radio City Music Hall orchestra walked off the job on the opening day of the Christmas Spectacular.

So why were in the center of the universe (other than to eat sushi and take in a show)? We went to attend the 2005 FOLIO show, one of the publishing industry's leading seminars.

It's always good to hear about what other people in your industry are doing. And sometimes the best brainstorms come when you're not in the office. Here's a top 10 list of what we learned this week (some of which we hope to use in American Spirit and MyBusiness magazines):

1. Some magazines are having great success with online readers' panels.

2. Creating a summary of stories for designers to read before they begin layout is more helpful than handing them a stack of copy.

3. The editors and designers at Hammock get along a lot better than those at other publications.

4. American Airlines has a tough time getting luggage from Nashville to New York and back again on direct flights.

5. To encourage reader feedback, make sure you consistently remind readers of how to contact you.

6. A magazine is not a community--community is real people connecting...but a magazine can help bring a community together, according to one of our favorite panelists.

7. Encouraging free thinking and regularly recognizing employee contributions is a good way to avoid editorial burnout.

8. Enlist readers to provide content--under certain parameters, of course!

9. Hammock designers do a pretty good job of following the four-point approach to good cover design: Simplicity, Strength, Sizzle and Sophistication. They even win Ozzie awards for their covers.

10. No matter how long you lived in New York, it takes time to harden your feet to pounding the pavement again!

p.s. Is it just us or does the girl in the FOLIO ad look a little like our own Lena Basha?

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From Rex Hammock:

At the Folio Awards on Nov. 1, we learned this Ride magazine cover had won a Silver Ozzie in the non-profit/institutional/custom magazine category.

"It's nice to be recognized by one's peers," as they say in the awards world. The Ozzies are a big deal in the magazine world because they recognize the best design of the year.

I'm very proud of our design team's consistent performance in the Ozzie awards and am especially proud to learn that a cover from one of our magazines, Ride PWC, is one of three finalists for this year's Ozzie for Best Cover (association, institutional or custom magazine -- it is the official magazine of the American Watercraft Association). Being a finalist in this category is a great honor and I have great hopes that this particular cover wins the Ozzie.

I wouldn't usually say this (I'd be blowing my "humility" cover), but I'm especially proud of this cover as it knowingly breaks many clich rules of "cover design" yet with great craft and success displays how powerful a medium magazines can be.

The interplay of photograph, typography along with the juxtaposition of words and images all connect in telling a wonderful story.

It makes me want to be down there, riding that PWC across the "R" and off into someplace great. I can just imagine those folks in the cars wishing they were on that PWC. I know the cover connects powerfully with the magazine's readers in a way that only a PWC enthusiast can truly appreciate.

At Hammock Publishing, we think our job is to help our clients tell their stories. Some people may call this "branding." We call it storytelling.

This is one of those times when I am not only amazed at how well our team helped tell the AWA & PWC story, they created a classic tale.

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So its Wednesday (aka The Day Lost Comes On), and lots of Hammoratis are among the millions of Americans taken with ABCs Emmy-awarding winning drama, Lost. Even though we dont have a water cooler at Hammock, we still gather somewherein the hallway, kitchen or copy roomon Thursday mornings to dissect what happened on the show and to fill each other in on the many details that can be discovered in each weeks episode.

Since a few Hammoratis were late in tasting the Kool-Aid and are still catching up on the first season, we cant make any predictions just yet about whats going on in season 2. But below, some of the show's biggest fans reveal which character(s) they identify with most:

* Spoiler warning, some small things about season 2 are mentioned in answers.

Summer: I'd have to say I identify most with Shannon. Give me a loving dog and some cute clothes, and I'm a happy girl no matter where I am!!!

Laura: I am trying really hard to like this show because I want to be a cool kid, too. I have just started watching in the 2nd season, and I have no idea who anyone is except for Jack [well, wait, is he the doctor or the guy who wanted to open the hatch??] and the guy who won the lottery. Oh and Rose. She seems nice. I'm sure she's hiding /something/. It looks like everyone is. So I don't have a favorite yet because I can't discern who's evil [besides everyone] and who's good [besides everyone].

Barbara: The new season of South Park starts tonight. Thats much more important.

Shannon: Id say Im a mixture of Michaelbecause hes bound and determined to get off that island as I would be; Charliebecause he can be a little whiny (my worst trait); and Waltbecause he loves his dog.

Allison: On most issues I can say I identify with Jack. Even though he succumbed, I would not have re-set the clock/timer thing. I would have wanted to know what would happen, because I don't think anything would have happened. I think it is a mind game being played on them. I would just be out to survive and create the best environment possible, but I wouldn't feel like Locke and believe the island has some special powers or whatever.

Jamie: A little hard to write about ... I think I'm a combination of Sun (observant), both Jack (skeptical) and Locke (while having faith in lifes mysteries), and Hurley (likes to eat).

Lena: I think I'm the female version of Hurley (minus a few pounds). I would avoid the monsters at all cost, people wouldn't find me too terribly annoying and I'd have a good time, despite being stuck on an island in the middle of the Pacific with losers like JACK and KATE. That last statement, coming from someone who once said, "You guys are crazy! Shannon is cool. I like her."

Julia: I would have to say that Sun fits that bill. She is strong, sensitive, creative and resourceful. In her life, she has stood up to her parents for the privilege of living her own life. She was ready to walk away from Jin, her husband and true love, when his lifestyle threatened her values. On the island, she has quietly added many things to the survivors' existence acting as a nurse, gardener and friend. She seems to be an all around decent human being who is always ready to make her very worthwhile contributions to the cause. However, I would have to say that my favorite character is Sawyer. He brings a lot of humor and interest to every scene he's in and, let's face it, he's very easy on the eyes.

At the invitation of one of our favorite national publications managers (Faye Porter of NFIB), Hammock once again was a sponsor in this year's Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer Foundation's Race for the Cure.

Thousands of walkers and runners turned out on Sunday to walk in celebration, memory or support of women fighting breast cancer. Hammock purchased a sign in Susan's Garden, one of the many activities set up at MetroCenter's Business Park where the race took place.

Five Hammoratis (Barbara not pictured) laced up their sneakers and joined the 5K race. Though all are avid athletes, four decided to walk instead of run the race (out too late celebrating Vandy's 4-0 season?). Celebrity gossip diva Lena Basha (the only one from the group who ran) got a taste of stardom herself when she was recognized by a fellow racer, who witnessed Hammock's impressive victory in last week's 12th Annual Nashville Adult Literacy Council Corporate Spelling Bee.

The Race for the Cure raised more than $400,000.

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Please welcome Stirling Isaac Ragsdale, born Sept. 22 to our tech guru Patrick Ragsdale and his wife, Lorraine. Isaac is their first child and weighed in at 8 pounds 2 ounces. All are doing fine!

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One of our clients is the American Watercraft Association , for whom we publish Ride Personal Watercraft Magazine. There's a section in the magazine that is a joint project between AWA and Shawn Alladio, a world-renowned water safety and rescue trainer. In the days following Hurricane Katrina, Alladio and several colleagues went to New Orleans to assist in rescue efforts; their experience was chronicled by The New Yorker Magazine.

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On Tuesday, Sept. 20, Team Hammock brought home gold from the 12th Annual Nashville Adult Literacy Council Corporate Spelling Bee, which is a fundraiser for the Nashville Adult Literacy Council. Our team was composed of writer Lena Basha, designer Carrie Wakeford and editorial director Bill Hudgins.

The emcee "Bee Master" was author Ann Patchett, whose work includes Bel Canto. She was witty and enthusiastic and made a great emcee.

(Photo: The championship team: Carrie Wakeford, Bill Hudgins, Lena Basha)

There were eight teams in the competition, each with its own table. We had only 45 seconds after getting the word, a definition and a sentence to spell it. We were allowed to confer on each word, although only the captain (Lena for us) could actually spell the word. It was not like the televised National Bee where each contestant stands in the glare of the spotlights, thank goodness.

They narrowed the 8 teams down to 4 after about 45 minutes. We were in the remaining four. They tried to make us move up from our table to another one, after the losing teams left the stage, but Lena wisely refused, knowing we had a lucky table. We are taking her to Tunica very soon.

Two more teams went out fairly quickly - before we quite realized it, the event was down to us and a team from a large local law firm. We went back and forth, then Bill forced Lena to misspell stratagem (he thought it was stratEgem).

Photo: Hammock managing director John Lavey, former literacy council president and longtime board member, has been wishing for this moment for years.

Under the rules, the other team had to spell that word correctly, then spell a final word to win. For some odd reason, the judge spelled stratagem out loud, so they had to go to the next word, which was the name of a disease you get from bird droppings - psittacosis.

They misspelled it, so suddenly we were back in the game and got it right. The final word was "raconteur," which we spelled correctly, and the crowd went wild. John Lavey, our managing director and a longtime member of the literacy council board, did some impressive Heisman poses with the trophy for the cameras and said he was going to Disney World, with the trophy. This was the fourth or fifth team fielded by Hammock and the highest placing by far. Our highest previous finish was fourth.

The event raised $13,000 for NALC.

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From Rex Hammock:

Last week, I heard about the impact Katrina had on the publisher and staff of a New Orleans-based magazine and felt Hammock Publishing could reach out and help.

Romney & Charley Richard, publishers of Louisiana Cookin' Magazine were flooded out of their home and office in New Orleans. (They still haven't been able to return to either.) They are now living in an RV parked at their daughter's home in Baton Rouge. Likewise, their staff are all direct victims of the disaster and are now evacuated across five states.

Committed to keeping Louisiana Cookin' alive, yet consumed with the personal struggles she and her staff are facing, Romney sounded understandably dazed when I spoke with her for the first time last week. I told her that getting out a magazine is something we at Hammock Publishing know how to help her do...and that I know a lot of folks throughout the magazine publishing world will also love to volunteer to help out.

We've launched a weblog at KeepCookin.org. Please link to it. Please subscribe to its RSS feed. I know a lot of folks who read this blog are media-types, but we also really want to reach out to food bloggers, as well. Pass the word along to them.

Also, please purchase a subscription to the magazine. It's a great magazine for folks who enjoy Louisiana cuisine or who have enjoyed the restaurants of New Orleans. Subscribing via the Louisiana Cookin' website is perhaps the quickest and most-direct way that individuals can help support Romney's efforts to get back up and running. (That, and advertising, which we discuss on the Keep Cookin' blog.)

If you'd like more information regarding Keep Cookin' or would like to volunteer your support, visit KeepCookin.org or e-mail: helpkeepcookin (at) hammock.com

Also, if you're a blogger, as you make posts about this, please use the tags: magazines, louisianacookin, keepcookin.org

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Hammock Production Manager and Red Sox true-believer Patrick Burns takes a break from attending PhotoShop World in his native Boston to root the Sox on to a 6-3 victory over the Angels. Since no party in Beantown is complete without T, he thoughtfully brought his Hammock shirt along for the occasion.

Digging through a folder of old family photos and letters today, our editorial director Bill Hudgins came up with this WWII gas rationing coupon that belonged to his mother. Let's hope it is not an omen of things to come.

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"This Hammock T-shirt was at the Sturgis South Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis Mississippi before riding home (Franklin TN) along the Natchez Trace Parkway. More pictures next month - riding to Texas via Clarksdale Mississippi and God Knows Where....." Robert Jansen

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Last week, I was working out and listening to the IPod, when my guilty pleasure song played. A few years ago, Maggie Flynn collected the guilty pleasure songs of Hammock people, but here is an update from those who are so bold as to bear their souls.

Summer Huggins responded first:

Oh man, that's a toughy... I recently got satellite radio in my car, and with 160-some-odd stations, I find I don't move very often from the '80s station. The first song that came to mind when I saw this question was Culture Club's "Miss Me Blind." I heard it recently while in the bathroom at a restaurant and found myself dancing uncontrollably. Please don't tell anyone!

Ride managing editor Bill Hudgins says:

I have so many, it's hard to pick a favorite. So I will be utterly fearless and give you several:
Massachusetts and Words - The Bee-Gees
Gloria - Laura Branigan
MacArthur Park - Richard Harris
El Paso - Marty Robbins

American Spirit managing editor Jamie Roberts admits to liking:

1. Beat It by pre-1987 Michael Jackson (may he R.I.P.)
2. Rockafeller Skank by Fatboy Slim
3. Bust a Move by Young MC

Hmmm. I really think my entire music collection is a guilty pleasure. I think it would be easier to name you the two songs I listen to which I know to be hip. But let me see if I can think of the guiltiest of my pleasures, musically. And I'll define this as not only a song that's campy now, but one that was also considered bubble gum or goofy at the time of its release.

Allison Lund

Probably alot of my iTunes could be considered guilty pleasures, but this song is not on my iTunes. "Man on the Silver Mountain" - by Rainbow. (Ronnie James Dio prior to singing for Black Sabbath.) I played this for my husband and he looked at me like I was an alien.

I have two: Love to sing along to "I Will Survive" by Aretha Franklin (I think she sang it?). I also like to get down to "Shake Your Tailfeather" by P.Diddy & Co.

My Guilty Pleasure song is another 80s classic Come on, Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners. Another favorite of mine from the 60s is Morning Girl by the Neon Philharmonic. This album featured the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, which was the first time that a symphony orchestra played on a rock album.

Barbara Mathieson

Hot of the presses is Hammock Publishing's new collaboration with Conferon Global Services: The CGS Guide to Room Block Management. The 64-page resource details the best practices of the industrys leading meeting planning firm, drawing on its collective wisdom of 35 years of experience.

Because successful room block management is one of meeting planners' toughest challenges, the CGS Guide breaks down the process for veterans and novices alike. The publication gives strategies for compiling group history, selecting a site, determining room counts, creating the proper mix of hotelsall while ensuring that meeting attendees are satisfied and associations remain on firm financial footing.

Hilton Hotels, sponsor of the Guide, shares cover billing with CGS. They will unveil the new publication at this weekend's annual meeting of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) in Nashville.

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Meet Emily McMackin, Hammock Publishing's newest writer.
Emily received her master's degree in journalism at The University of Alabama and began her career at The Decatur Daily, a mid-sized newspaper in Alabama. The past three years, she edited and designed weekly pages for teenagers and young adults and wrote stories about everything from breakups to blogging. "I dealt with more than 50 teen writers, who taught me a lot about life and fashion, and were nice enough to consider me hip," she says. "I learned that the angst they struggle with today really isnt that different from what mine was a teen."

Emily got used to a little Hammock hazing right away, as we peppered her with personal questions on everything from family to favorite sports teams to her addiction to soap operas.

After moving from Decatur, Ala., what has been the most surprising thing about Nashville?
The tourists with cowboy hats downtown and, of course, the traffic. I knew it would be rough, but until I became part of the commute, I had no idea how truly crazy it could get. I see this as the perfect opportunity, however, to hone my defensive driving skills. Ive been impressed by the courtesy of drivers; if youre stuck, someone always lets you in, as long as you give the little wave afterwards!

Tell us about your hometown and your family.
I grew up in Tuscumbia, a small North Alabama town, most famous for being Helen Kellers birthplace. Most of my family lives within 30 minutes of each other, which can drive us crazy, but also makes us close. Much of my dads side has middle Tennessee roots, and weve been slowly migrating back up here. When I told my grandfather about my move to Nashville, he said, Pretty soon, youll end up in Hollow Rock, the small Tennessee town he came from.

My dad, Mike, owns a small family business that sells filing systems and office furniture and, once upon a time, repaired typewriters (where I think I first got the writing bug). My mom, Rebekah, works as an elementary school counselor. My sister, Susanna, teaches middle school physical education. My baby sister, Lauren, is studying nursing in college.

Favorite sports team?
Once a Bama fan, always a Bama fan. Roll Tide!

Favorite author?
Im a big fan of Southern women writers like Eudora Welty and Flannery OConnor, but I also like Fanny Flagg because she is such a great storyteller.

Favorite musician?
I do love Neil Diamond! I grew up listening to his 8-tracks and loved him in The Jazz Singer.

Favorite magazines?
I like to read Time and National Geographic, but my guilty pleasures are People, Glamour and Cosmo.

Favorite Web site?
My favorite Web sites are Google, and Im embarrassed to admit, Soapnet.

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Hammock Publishing Inc. has won eight awards in the 17th Annual APEX Awards for Publication Excellence, including a Grand Award for American Spirit, the member magazine of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) - the third consecutive year that American Spirit has received this honor.

Hammock submitted the November/December 2004 issue for the competition. In making the award, the judges said of American Spirit: "Marvelous spreads with first rate photography, illustrations and type set the stage for compellingly written features. This meticulously crafted, exceptionally designed and written magazine is absolutely top-drawer."

The contemporary iteration of a century-old publishing tradition, American Spirit is the official magazine of the DAR, one of the best-known and most celebrated women's organizations in America. Available on national newsstands and by subscription, the bimonthly American Spirit reflects our nations fascination with historic preservation, travel, genealogy, collectibles and Americana.

Winning Awards of Excellence in the contest were:

Design & Layout - "Voyage of the Periauger" - American Spirit

Feature Writing - "When Women Lost the Right to Vote" - American Spirit

Best Redesign - Ride PWC Magazine, published for the American Watercraft Association

Most Improved Magazines & Journals - Ride May/June 2004

Magazine & Journal Writing - MyBusiness (published for the National Federation of Independent Business - April/May 2004

Web & Intranet Site Content & Writing - NFIB.com

Custom Published Newsletters - "Sumner Health" (published for Sumner Regional Health Systems Inc., - Autumn 2004

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From Jamie Roberts (on behalf of the Hammock folks who attended last night's Excel Awards presentation in Washington, D.C. -- the annual awards of the Society of National Association Publications):

Hammock Publishing had a great night at the SNAP awards gala.

MyBusiness looked smashing on screen as the Bronze award was announced for General Excellence. Plus, there were lots of audience laughs when the title was announced for MyBusiness' award for feature writing, "The Secret Life of a Tightwad."

And here are the judges' comments for our two Gold award winners:

Ride (Most Improved)"The winners were so far above all contenders that the judges did not choose a bronze winner. It was difficult to choose between the two top winners, but Ride's redesign took advantage of dramatic photography, improved writing and daring design. This is a magazine that truly knows its audience--jet-ski enthusiasts. It is a publication that is as exciting as its sport."

American Spirit (Design Excellence)"Overall the design, while conservative, in consistently classic and elegant. The photography is beautiful, strong and provides images relevant to the content. The cover images relate well to the cover story. The feature layouts benefit from a good use of color and an interesting selection of text for the headlines and decks and pull quotes. The print production quality is excellent."

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We celebrated the release of iTunes 4.9 today (the new version that integrates "podcasting" into the interface) by commissioning Summer Huggins to conduct one of her famous national polls (she sends an e-mail to everyone) to find out what the Hammorati are downloading to their iTunes/iPods these days. Here are her findings:

From America to the Brady Bunch to Coldplay, the staff of Hammock Publishing seem to have a wide range of musical tastes. Here is what I learned.

Barbara: I last uploaded a song called "Chicken Payback" by A Band of Bees off a CD sampler called SXSW Astralwerks New Music '05. The sampler also has "Jerk It Out" by The Caesars which has been used in the iPod TV commercial. So I can play this on my iPod and dance around. I'm so cool.

Laura: "The First Day of My Life" by Bright Eyes

Bill:"The Spirit of Radio" by Rush

Jamie:I recently loaded the entire 100 Percent Funk album. (Kool & The Gang, Commodores, Rick James, et.al.)

Shannon: "Sister Golden Hair" by America. My extended family is getting together for the Fourth of July and I've started a playlist for the weekend...all Classic Rock songs my dad and uncles will love.

Summer: Robyn Ludwick's whole debut CD, For So Long. She's a singer/songwriter from just outside of Austin. Little sister of Bruce and Charlie Robison.

Allison: Well, I don't have an iPod (yet), but I loaded some stuff to my iTunes this morning. I don't actually recall all the songs, but here is a list of the latest artists showing up in my iTunes: Bowie, The Clash, Chemical Brothers, Crystal Method, John Coltrane, Sahara Hotnights.

Kerri: Like this would be a big surprise...the new Coldplay, X&Y.

Lynne: Suspicious Minds (Dwight Yoakam)

Leslie: The new Coldplay single, "Speed of Sound"

Lena:"American Pie," by the Brady Bunch. Before you judge me, I do have an explanation. So I really wanted the song, but to get the Don McLean version on iTunes, you have to buy the whole album. So I went with the Brady Bunch one, which, I'm pleased as punch to report, is not as bad as one might think.

Rex:The last thing I downloaded on my iPod was the podcast, "The Nashville Nobody Knows." The last music I purchased on iTunes and downloaded was five different covers of the Bill Monroe bluegrass gospel tune, "Working on a Building."

Blair: I have loaded a lot of music lately but I think my most recent addition
was the live 3CD set, How the West Was Won by Led Zeppelin.

Natalie: Lisa's husbands CD - David Ask - Rest

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Just about six months ago, a fire came within minutes of wiping out the historic (175 years or so sold) First Presbyterian Church of Gallatin that my wife and I attend. Much of the smoke and water damage to the newer parts of the building has been repaired months back, while some sections directly under the sanctuary, where the fire began and was contained, are being remodeled (for the better).

The sanctuary, though remains closed and largely as it was a few weeks after the fire, as the various committees work toward decisions about redecorating, what kind of organ to buy, whether to carpet the floors, and so on. Many of the decisions are interlocking - for instance, replacing the old plaster walls with drywall affects the acoustics, as does carpeting all or some of the sanctuary. That in turn affects the choice of organ and sound system. I'm glad I am not on the organ committee - their puzzles are many. For instance, tuning some kinds of big pipe organs can be expensive (and ours needed it long ago), but you can buy organs that are much easier to tune and require it less often - but cost more on the front end.

My visit was to discuss replacing the only stained glass window that perished in the fire - which started basically at that window. The window memorialized my father-in-law and brother-in-law, and was installed about 25 years ago. Since then, my mother-in-law also has passed away, so we will add her name to the window, and use some remnants of the original glass in the new design.

I learned a lot about how stained glass windows and pieces are made - artists such as Louis Tiffany layered different colors and textures to produce his stunning works - and also about our church during the tour. It was used by Union forces as a hospital in The Civil War, and under the current hardwood floor is another floor, made of poplar and stained in places by soldiers' blood. We could glimpse the handmade brick walls where plaster had been broken away, and see old beams and supports, cut log before anyone much dreamed of sending messages along copper wires to distant places.

No one seems to know when the restoration will be done, but all seem to agree it needs to be done right, with an eye to more generations of usefulness. There are windows that survived - but need attention - that are more than 100 years old, and I hope our new window makes it that long. I didn't ask the question, but figured there is some way they could someday add my name and my wife's name. That would be nice, I've always loved stained glass and would probably enjoy the light.

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From Julia:

The proud dad of Sienna Grace Willis just e-mailed us this photo from his cell-phone. She was born early this morning and weighs 6 lbs, 12 ounces. Mom (Natalie) and baby are doing fine. And, as he was able to e-mail us this photo, we presume Dad is, as well.

All together, now: Ahhhhh!

Update: Today is creative director Susie Garland's daughter, Sammy's, third birthday. (Happy birthday, Sammy.) Sienna Grace was born at almost the exact same time of day at which Sammy was born.

All together, now. Hmmm!

Update 2: A new picture of Natalie holding Sienna:

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